Dude.

I knew about Ira Einhorn from watching TV, and that he had been a charismatic leader among hippie types, but had forgotten that he was associated with Earth Day. I can't say that it surprises me, though. Wanting clean air and water is one thing, but turning it into a religion with all the worst twists that humans have done to that is just insanity. It has lead us into economic suicide and major violations of our liberties and property rights.

Einhorn is an exceptionally adept demagogue who avoided capture and trial for the 1977 murder of Holly Maddux until 2001, but is now serving a life sentence. The MSNBC refers to him in the past tense, which could give one the impression that he's dead, which, although richly deserved, he is not.

Easter

"Easter" is a reference to a pagan festival for the goddess Eostre who represented spring time, fertility, and the life force. Her name came from the ancient word for spring, "eastre." She was the Great Earth Mother of the Saxons in Northern Europe. Her symbols were eggs, because they held new life, and rabbits, one of the most notably prolific animals, hence, the Easter Bunny. In the spring male wild hares would be seen leaping and "boxing" with each other, hence "mad as a March hare."

The Christian church adopted this festival to celebrate the time when Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples, before being betrayed, tortured and crucified at the hands of the Romans, buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the first day of the week, resurrected. Thus "Easter" became a holy time for Christians, coinciding with the Passover feast of the Jewish faith. Although, Christians don't observe the Passover, believing that it was part of the Law of Moses fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, it's all part of the same religious tradition of the fall of man and his atonement and redemption by Jehovah or Jesus Christ.

All that being said, Easter today celebrates the fulfillment of the Lord's plan of atonement and should humble us and fill us with both joy and love as we contemplate the infinite sacrifice made to allow us to be forgiven without the violation of the principle of justice that would otherwise cause us all to be lost and separated from God.

As I age and contemplate my own mortality and failures, I find myself yearning to know that Jesus knows and cares for me and will be merciful to me. I think about his suffering both in spirit and body from Gethsemane until he proclaimed, "It is finished!" and gave up his spirit. Only he was able to take up his body and become immortal and with his sacrifice we are "bought" or redeemed from the demands of justice. I believe that he would have undergone these things for each of us, if there were only one to be delivered, as he indicated in his parable of the lost sheep.

Perhaps the best expression of my feelings is stated in this LDS children's hymn, He Sent His Son:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)

I find myself in the position of the man in Mark 9 whose son was possessed and suffered injuring seizures and brought brought him to the Master:

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Amen.

Andrew Breitbart is "interviewed" by Martin Bashir on MSNBC. It could be subtitled, How Not To Cross-examine A Hostile Witness. In Breitbart's case, you don't. Period.

If you want to smear him, you'd best not do it with him in the room. The thing is that he has nothing to be ashamed of that he hasn't already admitted openly, and if he has a chance to answer, it's you who will look like the scoundrel. He's so naturally likeable that no impartial viewer is going to be interested in attempts to make him otherwise.

Nope, no double standard here!

Let's see--Wonkette mocks Downs Syndrome child on his third birthday, not a peep in the MSM. Michelle Bachmann calls Obama "shameless" to the person next to her at an event, is overheard and it lands as a headline on Bloomberg.

Dude indeed!

The second season of Justified has been better than the first, and that's saying something. I don't think HBO or Showtime has any program as grabbing and well written as this one, and Timothy Olyphant's place as a major action star is set. You never know where the plot will twist and it often surprises. Characters like Bo and Boyd Crowder, Maggs Bennett and Art Mullen keep the show memorable and involving.

I've now watched him in a couple of movies in which he outperformed his role, and this series lets Olyphant shine as Raylan Givens, Deputy U.S. Marshall. The rest of the cast is superb as well. I hope this keeps going for a good long ride.

Can politics GET any more absurd?

How much does this woman love her hubby?

The creators of South Park are interviewed with some interesting results. This exchange in particular struck me:

Parker: Didn’t the Mormon Church just issue a thing that’s like, “This show might actually be designed to try to entertain people for an evening, but the Book of Mormon will change your life and bring you closer to Christ”? [Laughs.] Which is funny because that’s actually what we say in the show, too.
Stone: It’s so funny, that’s our statement!
Parker: We should put it out!
Stone: “We agree … ”
Parker: “ … that book might change your life, but this show will entertain you for an evening.”

I don't remember reading the LDS Church's statement, but things like this have never had much impact on the church's growth. Anything that makes people curious may lead them to investigate the church and that does change many lives. When you consider how these guys have treated religion in general, it's probably a sign of the success of the LDS church to have them focus on it.

I wouldn't pay to watch my beliefs lampooned, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it either. It's been going on since the church was founded in 1830.

Dude! (to quote Hot Air.)

Can you say "quagmire?"

Fox is reporting that the U.K. is sending military advisers to work with the rebels in Benghazi, Libya. I don't think this war was what Obama wanted, but he got dragged along by Hillary and NATO, but if it fails, he'll still be blamed, as he would have been if we had nixed the project from the start. This is why his ideas about "smart diplomacy" were so stupid all along.

Time to update the broken windows theory, to include tagging.